Vale says Guinea mine attack will not alter startup plan

　　Brazilian miner Vale expects to start up its joint-venture Zogota iron ore mine in Guinea on schedule by the end of the year, despite damage caused in last month's attack by local villagers, the company said on Friday.

　　Workers at the $5 billion project in the West African state's remote Forestiere region remain offsite, however, after they were evacuated when youths invaded during the night of July 30, spokeswoman Fatima Cristina added in an email to Reuters.

　　Guinea's government has said the damage to the site, jointly-run by Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz's BSG Resources, could amount to tens of millions of dollars, though Vale has said it does not yet have a precise estimate.

　　"We have no information available on the amount of damage," Cristina said. She added: "Estimated start-up for the Zogota mine is second half of 2012, as stated in our second quarter financial statement."

　　The company said in May that tight credit and government demands for a bigger cut in its project could ultimately lead it to abandon the Zogota mine project, which taps into Guinea's giant Simandou iron ore deposit.

　　Guinea is the world's top supplier of bauxite and has attracted billions of dollars of investment into its iron ore deposits, but it remains one of the most politically turbulent and least developed countries on the planet, with tensions evident between mining firms and local communities.

　　A memorandum written by the Forestiere Bureau of Elders describing the incident said the local protesters attacked the mine site after village representatives pressing demands for employment and pollution mitigation were turned away by local authorities in the regional capital N'Zerekore.

　　FIVE KILLED

　　The attack on the mine has stirred controversy in the country, struggling to complete a transition to civilian rule after a 2008 coup. Security forces cracked down on the village of Zogota three days after the attack on the mine in an overnight clash that killed at least five people.

　　Opponents of Guinea President Alpha Conde have accused his administration of ordering the deployment as retribution, pointing to the presence of a government delegation of cabinet ministers to the mine and the regional capital N'Zerekore the day before the crackdown.

　　The government has denied the accusations and has launched an investigation into the killings.

　　"We went to N'Zerekore and to the mine site to look at the damage," Guinea's Foreign Minister Edouard Niankoye Lamah told Reuters by telephone. "It is unimaginable that the government would order the shooting of its people in the middle of the night. It is impossible."

　　Lamah said that damage to the Zogota mine site was estimated in the tens of millions of dollars.

　　"When we arrived on the site, we saw the damage and it was the initial view of some people that estimated the damage at between $50 and $100 million. There were big machines damaged," he said. "To have a more precise estimate, we would need a competent body to do a thorough examination of the damage, and this hasn't been done yet."

　　Simandou is one of the world's largest unexploited iron ore deposits. Vale and BSGR hold two of Simandou's four blocks, while Rio Tinto and joint venture partner Chinalco hold the other two.

　　Other high profile mining projects, including Russian giant RUSAL's Friguia alumina refining operation, have frequent trouble with local communities in the form of strikes and protests by workers and retirees.